Shanghai hosts first Monet exhibition in Chinese Mainland

Shanghai will soon host the first ever Monet exhibition in the Chinese mainland. The exhibition titled "Master of Impressionism: Claude Monet" opens this Saturday, but if you still haven't got a ticket, you'll have to wait until next month to go.

These are the hottest tickets in town. Not for the upcoming Rolling Stones gig or any other music concert, but presale tickets for an art exhibition.

The Chinese Mainland's first large-scale exhibition of works by Claude Monet will open in Shanghai this Saturday. Distributing the presale tickets is a website called Gewara.com. Staff here have been working around the clock since booking opened a month ago.

As of Monday, over 60 thousand presale tickets have been sold, unprecedented enthusiasm for an art exhibition in the city.

The exhibition will showcase 40 original Monets, including the iconic Water Lily and Wisteria, along with 12 original paintings from other impressionists from the Paris Marmottan Monet Museum.

The exhibition also comes in wake of the 50th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations. It is one of a series of events planned to mark the occasion.

Organizers say they aim to open a new dialogue for Chinese artists, inspiring and exposing art students and wider audiences to how Monet and Impressionism can give value to the development of contemporary Chinese art.

The exhibition runs until June 15 at the K11 art space in Shanghai.